“She was a dressmaker, and she had the sleeve of a woman’s dress in her hand. She gave me a quick, pleasant look, but she became very sad when she saw the mud on her husband’s clothes where he had splashed through puddles of dirty water.
“It seems she had long wanted a dog to bear her company while her husband was away from home. So she was very pleased to see me, and threw an old coat in a corner of the kitchen for me to lie on, and gave me a beef bone to gnaw.
“I was delighted to get a good meal, and a quiet bed, for as I told you the children used to kick me a good deal in their sleep. However, I was not happy in this new place.
“I was surprised at myself. This was a much nicer house than the Italian’s, but I didn’t care for that. I wanted my own home.
“There was a sleek, gray cat with dark eyes in the house, and the next day I had a talk with her.
“‘You are uneasy,’ she said, ‘because this
isn’t your very own home. Dogs are very faithful. You miss the children and that man and his wife, though by the look of you they were not very good to you.’
“Of course I had not said anything to this cat against my family. I knew they were not perfect, but something told me it would not be right to discuss my own family with strangers.
“‘Your coat is very grimy and dirty,’ she said. ‘You look as if you had not been washed for a long time. Have you?’
“I hesitated, for to tell the truth I remembered no washings except the ones my poor little spotted mother had given me with her tongue when I was a puppy. Only the rain and the snow had cleansed me since then. At last I said, ‘Water was scarce with us. It had to be carried from a pump.’